Musical-game apparatus



D; MILLER. MUSICAL GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.14. I918.

-1 325,104. Patented Dec. 16,1919.

:6 samfi M Q e 1 (q INVENTORZ DOROTHY MILLER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

MUSICAL-GAME APPARATUS.

Application filed November 14, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DOROTHY MILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Musical-GameApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to musical games and more especially to key-boardgames, and my object is to produce apparatus constituting a game wherebyone may learn the names and locations of notes on the treble and bassclefs and on the keys on the keyboard of a piano entertainingly andsubconsciously. A further object is to provide a competitive game of thecharacter set forth for the purpose of stimulating the interest andconcentration and therefore quickening and strengthening the memorizingand reasoning faculties of the players.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain novel anduseful features of construction and organization of parts as hereinafterdescribed and claimed; and in order that the invention may be fullyunderstood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:a

Figure 1, is a plan view of a key-board game apparatus embodying theinvention.

Fig. 2, is a cross section on'the line IIII of the same.

In the said drawing a board 1, preferably rectangular in form andconstituting a field, is inclosed by marginal strips forming a wall 2,on the upper surface of one side of which is represented a pianokey-board 3, only one being shown, and said wall is provided withpockets 4 for the keys of the key-board, the preferred constructionbeing to produce a pocket in each key.

On the field is represented a treble clef 5, and a bass clef'6, thetreble clef stafi being supplemented by one added line below, and thelines and spaces of the staffs may con tain the proper identifying marksor letters (not shown), to serve as guides in the placement on thestaffs of correspondingly lettered marbles 7 The board is placed upon asmall table 8, and the game is preferably played by no more than fourplayers seated at the table Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

Serial No. 262,475.

around the board, and each player will be provided with a shooter marbleor taw 8 to be shot or rolled by the player in the attempt to displacethe lettered marbles from the staffs.

Upon starting the game one of the players will shoot or roll his shootermarble or taw on the field in the attempt to knock or displace alettered marble from its staff. If he succeeds he picks up the displacedmarble and upon observing its letter, or, if it is unlettered, theposition from which it was driven, announces that it represents acertain note and that such note is located at a certain place on thekey-board, mentioning the place with respect to the black keys thereof,as I have foundthat the locating of the keys in the minds of children isgreatly expedited by utilizing the groups of two black keys and threeblack keys as a basis for the identification by name and location of thewhite keys. If the player fails in his attempt to displace a letteredmarble from a staff or' to properly call and locate said marble in thecorresponding pocket of the key-board, he loses his turn at play andanother player takes his turn, and when he fails the next player, etc.,until all of the field marbles have been displaced and properlystationed on the key-board. In practice it is preferable that thereshall be a key-board for each player so that the result of the playshall appear at a glance. Of course, the result of the play may be notedupon a tab, butthis method of keeping score is not desirable oraltogether practicable where small children are the players.

In teaching the game to children I have found that it is advisable torequire them to amiounce the location on the key-board of a displacedmarble by referring to either the groups of two black keys or the groupsof three black keys, for example, if the displaced marble represents aC, the player will announce that C is the first white key to the left ofthe two black keys. I have also found it advantageous to have theplayers play on the C marbles first so that they shall by repetitionlearn where the Us occur on the treble and bass clefs, and then take upthe letters of the other keys, learning the location of the white keysC, D and E with respect to the group of two black keys, and thenlearning the location of the white keys F, G, A and B with respect tothe group of three black keys. The game not only teaches the location ofthe white keys with respect to the black keys but also teaches where thecorresponding keys are in the treble and bass stafis.

To illustrate more clearly the location of the white keys with respectto the two groups of black keys, it will be learned that C and E arerespectively to the left and right of the group of two black keys andthat D is between said two black keys, and that the key F is to the leftof the three black keys, and that the key D is to the right of the threeblack keys, that the key G is the lower white key, and that the key A isthe upper white key within the group of three black keys, said keysbeing termed lower and upper respectively because of their difference intone or pitch.

The game is very entertaining to children because it is a competitivegame and a child quickly learns the location of the keys on the staffand on the key-board.

By means of this game one can readily learn the location of any noteupon the bass stall with respect to the middle C on the key-board, forexample, when the marble representing A on the bass staff is displaced,the player is required to state that A is the first bass space and isthe second A below middle C on the key-board; that C is the second bassspace and the first 0 below middle C on the key-board; that E is thethird bass space and the first E below middle C on the key-board; that Gis the fourth bass space and the first G below middle C on thekey-board. The location of the lines with respect to the key-board islearned in a similar manner. In winning the game of spaces or lines, theboard may have to be cleared a number of times, as the first one whosucceeds in collecting and properly locating the marbles F, A, C, E, orE, G, B, D and F wins the game.

From the above description it will be seen that I have produced a deviceof the character described which possesses all of the features ofadvantage enumerated as desirable, and while I have illustrated anddescribed the preferred form of the invention it is to be understoodthat I reserve the right to make all changes properly falling within theprinciple of construction involved and the spirit and scope of the ap'pended claims.

I claim:

1. A musical game apparatus, comprising a field containing one or moremusical stalls, inclosed by a wall, objects to be positioned on thelines and spaces of the staff or stafi's, taws to be shot or rolled onthe field for effecting the displacement of said objects from the staffor stafils, and a representation of a piano key-board, the displacedobjects representative of particular notes, being adapted to be placedon the corresponding keys of said key-board.

2. A musical game apparatus, comprising a field containing one or morestaffs and inclosed by a wall, objects to be positioned on the lines andspaces of the sta'tl' or staffs and bearing characters of identificationcorresponding to the respective lines and spaces of said stall orstaffs, taws to be shot or rolled in the field ior elfecting thedisplacement of said objects from the stall or stalls, and arepresentation of a piano key-board, the displaced objectsrepresentative of particular notes being adapted to be placed. on thecorresponding keysoit said key-board.

3. A musical game apparatus, comprising a field containing one or morestaffs and inclosed by a wall, objects to be positioned on the lines andspaces of the stafl or stali's, taws to be shot or rolled on the fieldfor ofltecting the displacement of paid objects from the staff orstaffs, and a representation or a piano key-board, )revided with apocket for each key for the reception respectively of objects displacedfrom corresponding lines or spaces of the staff or staffs by theshooting or rolling of a taw or taws.

l. A musical game apparatus, comprising a field containing one or morestaffs and in closed by a wall, objects to be positioned on the linesand spaces of the staff or stalls, and bearing characters ofidentification corre spending to the respective lines and spaces of saidstaff or stafis, taws to be shot or rolled on the field for effectingthe displacement of said objects from the stafi or staffs, and arepresentation of a piano key-board provided with a pocket for each keyfor the reception respectively of objects displaced from correspondinglines or spaces of the start or by the shooting or rolling of a taw.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

DOROTHY MILLER.

